To reckon that Reform will win the next election, and to be utterly terrified about it? 😪

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

i am a leftie

I think they’ll win

If don’t, they’ll have the majority in a hung parliament and govern as a minority party before joining with the Tories.

i’m going to tighten my belt re running my home and prepare for onslaught as the country becomes unrecognisable

You're an optimist. They're fascists.

To paraphrase Churchill: You cannot appease authoritarians. Appeasing is like feeding everyone else to the crocodile and hoping he eats you last.

Nigel is not a positive change. Nor is what he is suggesting.

I think Kemi Badenoch must be rubbing her hands together with glee, she’s losing all her troublemakers to Reform. That should make it easier for her to reshape and reunite the Conservatives and move towards the centre. The Tories that have defected all like the sound of their own voices and influence, when they realise that Nigel Farage has all the power, I can see the infighting now and then they’ll storm off and start their own party. I suspect they make gains in May, but I also can see that they’ll be out when the next set of elections come around when everyone realises they’re useless. I think hyperbole around Reform is dangerous and plays into their hands, wokey lefties scared to take action. Calm and measured is probably the best way and hope that more of the right wing press start investigating or pick things up. (Which is quite likely with a more united and sane Tory party.)

I’m a centre leftist, but if it came to it would vote Tory to keep Reform out, I can’t believe I’ve said that! I suspect there will be many others like me, so will they make gains probably, but will they sweep in, I would say unlikely. More likely a reduced Labour majority, or a hung parliament.

Are you worried they’ll cancel elections, gerrymander elections by giving children a vote, curb free speech with custodial sentences and attempted blasphemy laws, seek to limit news media access and limit non state children’s education? It would be a little worrying I suppose.

More likely a reduced Labour majority

Labour are forecast to lose 302 seats in the next election, they will be lucky to even be the official opposition.

I’m right of center, and I can’t see Reform getting in. Without Farage they are nothing.
Labour are already more right wing than the previous Tory government.
If Starmer doesn’t perish due to the illegal immigration ( they are mostly economic migrants ) then I rate Labour’s prospects the highest.

I'm not a reform fan, but calling them fascists is a bit of a stretch. I used to read the guardian and remember fondly the section of their readership who like to claim anyone right of Corbyn is a fascist. There were always bullet pointed checklists that "proved" it.

That still goes on, as well as calling them right wing bots.

I think no it's a bit of a joke to say Reform would be a security risk when it's Starmer who is attacking farmers and putting our food security at risk, trying desperately to give away the Chargos Islands and rent them back costing billions and allowing a mega Chinese embassy to open in London far larger than necessary for purpose.

You might be right from an outsider’s perspective. I highly doubt that they’ll deploy ICE agents. The current government all over Europe are ignoring or pandering to mass immigration policies, people have had enough and want change. If the current government cared they’d could start taking action, similarly in Ireland, hospitality industry is hugely impacted by hotel accommodation shut down to the public, alongside most other services, you’re taking your life into your hands in a&e over crowded rooms these days.

Labour Reform coalition?

@mumofoneAloneandwell what do you mean re tightening belt for reform ?

Our belts are already very tight here.

I think Farage has his sights set on a Tory Refom coalition.

Well my dd is autistic so I expect that we are going to have a reduction in her already not massive dla, should they get in

I expect that the support she gets at school will be cut

I suspect that things like cheap events due to her being disabled will be stopped

I expect food prices to get higher, etc 😪

ive got health issues for which I need the nhs - I expect we won’t have the ready access to gp’s (however rubbish it currently is) that we do now.

I don’t think the current Labour Party is right wing at all, absolutely a majority of them are very left wing. Which is why Starmer can’t get rational policies over the finishing line. I bet if Corbyn had the same support from the public as Nigel has for reform, there’d be loads of Starmer’s back bench MPs defecting.

1. It's about time Farmers paid the same taxes as everyone else. I think shedding tears for farmers that are millionaires or have bought farms as a tax dodge is laughable
2. You aren't bothered about the ' Chargos' Islands are you? You are against the giving them back because Trump and Farage have said it's a bad thing
3. The security services approved the Chinese embassy after Starmer asked for a report into it. It is good for diplomatic relations and the economy to to develop better connections with China.

You have ready access to your GP?! How lucky you are. If I want an appointment to see my GP, I have to enter a phone queue of 50 people at 8 in the morning. We can only have same day appointments, and once they’re filled, it’s rinse and repeat for the following day. No wonder people use A&E as a walk in GP service. And no NHS dentists either. I have one fortunately, but there’s a 2 year waiting list for new NHS patients to register. I can’t believe that people are so used to the rubbish service we receive that they’re actually thankful for it.

I'll be surprised if Kemi lasts until the next election.
The Tories seem to drop a woman into the top role when the shit is hitting the fan, let her take the hit then swap her out for a nice public schoolboy when the storm has passed and any real power is in sight. Truss and May were both fall guys.

Yes they can be. Try no NHS, lower taxes so no money for anything except his billionaire pals and ICE agents on the streets. Our local Reform guy is a really nasty character. He’s known locally for really verbally attacking women if they disagree with him on social media. I pointed out that he was wrong about something and he obviously searched me up and basically doxed me online to try to shame me.

ive got health issues for which I need the nhs - I expect we won’t have the ready access to gp’s (however rubbish it currently is) that we do now.

Ready access to GPs? I wish we were that lucky.

I doubt it she’s beating the male leaders atm

No, it really is not. They are certainly authoritarian and are emulating paths to political victory used by fascist parties of times gone by.

In the same way the current US administration's use of ICE to intimidate states who do not tend to vote in support of the current administration emulates tactics used by Hitler and the Nazis in the early 1930s.

Not everyone who votes for Reform is a right wing bigot fascist sympathiser. But everyone who is a right wing bigot fascist sympathiser does vote for Reform.

The issue is that there is no unifying alternative at the moment, which leads to split votes across the board.

What this realistically.means come the next general election - it is too far away to tell. But the Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections will be considered a litmus test for overall popularity of Reform and of other parties.

The current government all over Europe are ignoring or pandering to mass immigration policies, people have had enough and want change.

a) The biggest cause of immigration in western Europe in the last three years has been Ukraine

b) the biggest single cause of immigration to the UK in the last three years has been HongKongers

c) Boat people take that route because all the sensible and legal routes have been removed

d) Ageing populations in the whole of Europe mean we either hire immigrants or accespt shrinking economies

e) No policy anywhere has persuaded women to have more children once birth rates drop below 2.5 - most of Europe 35 years ago, most of Asia 10 years ago